October 4, 2008

The medium of writing - so many options

I spend all day on the computer and I'm thinking about invoking the Luddite clause and doing the deed in longhand. (The last thing I want to do in my off hours these days is stare at more computer screens!). According to the NaNoWriMo FAQ instructions, I can get a trusted individual to count my words and provide me with a word count. Then, I submit a document with exactly that word count.

When I asked the NaNoWriMo veterans if anyone wrote their novels by hand, I got a variety of responses. Several used the Logitech pen. Some wrote by hand and entered the text by reading it to the Dragon NaturallySpeaking software. This solution sounds very cool to me, but not convenient for travel, sadly. Some tried to write in notebooks while riding in a van, and failed.

I could use my Alphasmart or my FlyFusion pen. My current thinking is to use my Maruman Cover Note notebook and my favorite gel pen, the G2. We also just ordered a new travel notebook computer. Also, I bought a typewriter last time I was visiting home, a really cute manual portable typewriter in great condition. Maybe I can type my entries for the last few days.